Fire Dive

Airhawk14 · Post by **Airhawk14** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:12 am

This is just about my stupidest post but the question been itching me. I watched the movie Memphis Belle the other day and I wondered something. For those of you that have not seen the movie, it is about a group of ten men flying a B-17 in their final mission. There is a lot more to it but I will get on with the question. During the movie, one of the B-17's engines catch fire and they end up putting it out by diving. I was wondering in any plane or just some in the IL-2 series, if this is possible to do if your engine catches fire.

:FI:Falcon · Post by **:FI:Falcon** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:38 am

Good question!

In real life it was marginally effective. Hollywood has fun with it because of the excitement factor. Sometimes you may just fan the fire instead.

In IL2 I have heard it is effective under certain curcumstances and certain aircraft, but others may have more experience that I.

I think I've done it before.

F

:FI:Sneaky_Russian · Post by **:FI:Sneaky_Russian** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:17 am

Quite a few of the planes in IL2 have fire extinguishers, just see the key is mapped.

Diving will put the fire out in Il2 ( mostly), but the fire will re-start shortly after you resume level flight. There have been some posts (complaining) about this on Ubi forums.

It's quite effective with the Me 262, which have a tendency to burst into flames with harsh throttle movement anyway.

Skipper · Post by **Skipper** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 11:37 am

I can actually claim to have done this before though it was offline

It did happen though

I was flying a B-25 on the Gulf of Finland map and was flying to attack an airfield on the North of the map near Hamina...

Unfortunately my flight of three was intercepted by 109's.(I'd altered the DCG to have the name os 617 Squadron Members and unfortuntely Dave Maltby crashed into the see in flames while Mick Martin was hit and ditched on the beach

)

My fule tank was hit and there is obviously no way to extinguish such a fire as its not in the engine.I was at about 2500ft and I soon realised that the only option was to ditch the bombs and head for friendly territory.I began a series of steep dives towards the lake using the energy of the dive to climb back up.This meant I could dodge the attacks of the fighters while keeping the fire in the fuel tank under control.I flew like this for a further 10 minutes but by this point my engines were dying.I ditched on the friendly coast after flying across the entire Gulf of Finland with a fuel tank on fire

I may not have hit the target but I'd got home , unlike my flight commanders

.Possibly one of my best il2 moments

Skipper

PS-I was killed a couple of missions after this on a raid on the same airfield

Nightcat · Post by **Nightcat** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:12 pm

Yep it works in IL-2 , but its not the same as in "Memphis Belle".

Single engined aircraft usually roast the pilot before you get anywhere near a dive.

Duel engine aircraft have a much higher rate of survival with it because the fires are far enough away from the cockpit. I open the radiators, go into a 45 degree dive and that usually does the job if I started with enough altitude. You should end up with 2 smoking engines (if 2 fires), then to stop them reigniting drop the throttle back to 60% and 75% on the prop pitch and cruise your aircraft back to base.

Keep an eye on the engines tempature gauges, if you get the feeling the engines are soon to catch fire again then perhaps use the extinguishers.

Thats something that works for me most of the time.

NC

Airhawk14 · Post by **Airhawk14** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:27 pm

Thanks for answering my question.

:FI:Moog · Post by **:FI:Moog** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:18 pm

Most of the time when my engine catches fire, I dive for everything I'm worth with a few spirals along the way, and the fire usually goes out.

However, it re-ignites reeeaaaaaal quick once I hit the ground...

If you're in a multi and one of the engines catches fire, isolate the engine and bring the throttle back to zero, feather the prop, open the rad fully, and fire the extinguisher a few times. If this doesn't work, sometimes you can get lucky and have the engine sever itself in the explosion, keeping your airframe and remaining engines intact. Don't bank on it, though. Oh, hey! Don't BANK on it! Ha, I get it...

:FI:Falcon · Post by **:FI:Falcon** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:55 pm

~groan!~

Nightcat · Post by **Nightcat** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:31 pm

fighter_bomber · Post by **fighter_bomber** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:37 pm

I just wet my fingers and put the damn fire out...

AltarBoy · Post by **AltarBoy** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:55 pm

In reality the Memphis Belle would've been torn up by the tremendous forces on its surfaces and even if it didn't that pilot (played by Matthew Modine) would've needed the strength of 40 men to pull up out of the dive. I saw the movie a few times and it is possible but not at the angle he was diving at nor the speed. Il2 models do not always reflect true model physics and some planes that were mediocre in reality turned out to be uber planes in the game. Damn you Oleg. I hope he addresses this problem in the upcoming Battle of Britain game. On a side note, don't you think the mission generator in CFS II is far more superior than IL-2/PF? The former had nifty triggers in them while the latter does not. Rant done. Time for pills and a cold Carib Beer!